Tesla's Valvular Conduit
Derived from
Description
blog.makezine.com/2012/01/05/the-tesla-valve-one-way-flow-with-no-moving-parts/
This implementation follows Tesla's patent diagrams, perhaps too closely. It works, but the cap is a bit leaky so I plan to re-design it in the future.
Instructions
So far I've only tested it by blowing air through it. It flowed okay in the forward direction, but when I reversed it the pressure blew the cap off!
There are more pictures of how I built the transparent model at mysd300.blogspot.com/search/label/Tesla
Update: As users have requested I've uploaded DXF files for anyone who wants to attempt laser cutting the model.
I've added Tesla enclosed conduit.stl which builds the conduit in one piece so it doesn't require a separate cap. All overhangs span from wall-to-wall so it should build without much trouble.
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Thanks for the DXF... I sometimes ask submitters to post DXF if a design might lend itself to using a laser... appreciate it much. :-D
I wonder whether thcse could these be used as check valves in a fluidyne pump (a liquid piston sterling engine)... that would make a no-moving-parts and thus maintenance-free pump, very useful all over the world!
I doubt it would be effective. Unlike a conventional check valve Tesla's conduit doesn't offer any static resistance so there'd be a lot of backflow, probably too much for a fluidyne pump. Additionally, Tesla's conduit requires a forceful flow but a fluidyne pump can't create much pressure.
I know someone who doesn't need a cap and may eventually get around to sending you one. :-P
I really like your implementation of this! It looks very professional.
Any chance of also saving as a dxf file and posting here... I took a look and I could layer this in acrylic on a laser (Corel and Epilog Laser)... Perhaps Sean @ Makezine would like that too... more options for the magazine....thx
I uploaded DXF projections of both the base/cap and the wall profile. It'll look attractive in acrylic, but the design isn't really optimized for it; you'll probably find it tedious and fiddly to position the parts. I suggest using a thick-body cement like Weld-On 16 for assembling the 'islands' instead of the usual water-thin acrylic cement. Alternatively you could cut a support jig from Delrin to align the acrylic parts while the glue sets. (Delrin won't stick to acrylic.)
My next revision (first draft pictured) will probably adapt better to laser-cutting because the 'islands' are bigger and have a hole through them, so the cutout could be used to align the pieces. It should also solve the leaks in the 3D-printed version.
So cool! I'm watching the Thingiverse RSS feed so I'll see any new things related to this topic. But as you make improvements and/or post more photos or whatever, please feel free to e-mail me directly at sean@makezine.com. Would love to do a follow-up post about this.
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As most people don't seem to understand the Tesla valvular conduit is only to be used in a pulsating gas stream. it doesn't do much with continuous pressure from one side or the other. It was designed to be used with a gas turbine of his design whereby the air + fuel coming in through the valvular conduit would flow in from the suction of the turbine, but when the spark ignited the fuel/air mixture the blowback would be impeded by the valvular conduit and all the pressure would be used to run the turbine. It was sort of a V1 ramjet with no moving parts (for the valve part). He claimed at least a 200:1 diode ratio of on:off for this device and modern implementations have gotten up to 250:1 when operated in the pulsating mode.
I was just sayn to myself "does that work? it doesnt look like it should" , then I scrolled down and saw the comments, yours in particular. Makes sense now to me how it would require pulsing to create temporary pressure differences in order to work.
Could you use it to convert sound energy to air flow / any idea what the conversion efficiency would be ? Would the device need to be built on a scale similar to the travel distance of an air molecule driven by the sound?